For the last decade or so, my Bealtaine celebrations have been punctuated by an explosion of green. Every year, I dance the Maypole, all the while taking note of the leaves finally reaching out in praise of sun and rain. This year, I did not dance the Maypole until the weekend after, but I spent the 1st welcoming signs of spring at my new home. This was our first Bealtaine here. My daughter helped me greet the flowers we planted in the autumn. We spent so much of March and April looking at their bed with longing; it was very satisfying to see them emerge and eventually blossom into a colorful display! The bees certainly approved of our efforts.

Giving offerings to Airmed. Photo by Grey Catsidhe, 2018.

When working with my garden and the plants who grow around my home, my mind and heart swing to Airmed, a goddess fraternally connected to our plant allies. We made a space for her. Bee helped put offerings of gratitude in the little bowls we put out on her stone.

Outside shrine for spirit allies. Photo by Grey Catsidhe.

My husband helped me move this half barrel into a corner of our yard. This followed us from our last two apartments. I’ve been placing offerings into it for years, and I even buried my ferrets in it. Renting, I had no other choice! So the little ones follow me, joining our spirit allies. I usually plant foxglove or woodland tobacco in it.

Our May Bush. Photo by Grey Catsidhe, 2018

This is a new tradition for us – it’s something we couldn’t easily do at our apartment – make a May bush! Ours is slightly different from traditional Irish May bushes, mostly that it’s not Hawthorn and isn’t something we paraded around. However, we tied some cloth to the branches of this established bush – mostly ribbons Bee helped me choose. We danced around it, thanked the local spirits, and prayed for good luck upon our home, especially in regards to the productivity of the land we live upon. It was a show of love and gratitude for the patch of land we call our home. The bush has since burst into life. We have decided to treat the ribbons as we do those of our grove’s Maypole – which is based on the tradition of my first grove, Muin Mound – we will remove the ribbons around Samhain and put them into the fire, thus returning the fertility to the land.

Each High Day, I think back to how I spent it as a renter. I looked forward to owning my own home and having space to establish deeper relationships with the land. I did what I could before, with container gardens, a failed attempt at worm bins, and delving deep into the apartment complex’s wooded land to make peace there… but now I can finally live out more of my dreams. We planted seeds in the earth. We planted trees and blueberry bushes in the earth. We have a compost pile. Finally, finally, I can start interacting with the yard I was so excited to work with when we moved in at the end of August last year.

March melted away like all the ice we had. Spring is officially here, but it doesn’t yet feel like it. In fact, a chill remains in the air, and we had more snow this afternoon. I find that these transitional times are always a bit messy around Upstate NY. It can also be draining as we look forward to the the coming season with optimism even while we grow dreary of the old.

For that reason, I was grateful for the opportunity to attend a yoga retreat for mothers (of all ages). The focus was on loving kindness, first to ourselves, and then to others. When we stop to care for ourselves, we can project that love outward. I definitely welcomed an opportunity to go somewhere quiet to meditate and do some restorative yoga. The teacher had such a peaceful presence that I immediately felt at ease. She had a very eclectic approach that was very informed by a grounding in Yogic and Hindu tradition, but it was also very inclusive, allowing us to explore our inner worlds, speak to our inner guides, etc. I left feeling refreshed and inspired. I’ve incorporated some of the meditation into my daily devotionals.

My daughter and I welcomed Spring by building an Equinox shrine. She was very excited to help. Before that, we stopped at a gardening center and I let her pick out a pot and some flower seeds. We planted them and invited Spring to grow. We’re very excited to start the rest of our garden. Now that it’s April, soon I will start more seeds and clean the yard in preparation.

Many people reflect on the year upon entering its final hours. I’ve made a point to set some time aside and do so on my blog for many years, so here I am, keeping the tradition alive! I try to maintain various traditions in my home. It’s become even more important to me as my daughter grows. I find value passing on customs from my family as well as my religious tradition. One such tradition is cleaning the home, as best as we are able, on New Year’s Eve. This year was the first that she took part, manning the duster. She seemed proud to assist, although I know I have to go back and get all the corners she missed due to her height or playful negligence.

As I scrubbed and swept, I reflected on one of my greatest achievements of 2017 – buying a home. Although it was not what I originally envisioned, I’m very proud and glad to have a place of our own. We have land to befriend, to plant, and I cannot wait to get started in the spring. It’s taking time, but we’re making it our own. I refinished a cabinet a couple months ago and set up my altar in the kitchen area. It’s still very much a work in progress. I intend to hang my Tree of Life tapestry above it, and I would like to install a shelf or two to display important images while tidying the surface of the altar itself. I need to organize other areas of the home, but I thought my readers would be interested to see my new altar space. Some may even take solace in the fact that it’s taking me time to get it where I want it – and even that will change as I do.

As I reflected on my joy and gratitude for buying a home, I couldn’t help but think of the difficulties many in my generation face in grasping similar dreams. Like other millennials, I continue to struggle with paying off student loan debt, but, somehow, I’ve made it this far. I find myself pondering how I can give back to my community and help those who do not have shelter, especially in these frigid temperatures.

My other great accomplishment this year has been completing a novel. I’m very proud of it. I’m still waiting for my husband to finish reading it, but I hope to share my story with a few others before I decide how to proceede. This year has found my creative spark reinvigorated. I’ve been writing stories and poetry, I delved into the world of cosplay to challenge and improve my sewing skills, and I even started to make candles here and there. It allowed me to connect with Brighid as I once did – as a creative person. For awhile, her mothering qualities eclipsed all others, so it’s been a bit of a rebirth for me.

2017 found me leaving certain aspects of my Druidism on the back burner, however. My formal studies have stalled. My flamekeeping has been on-and-off, something that riles up my old Catholic guilt. While I’ve maintained morning devotionals, my weekly rituals and meditations have been sporadic. No doubt, much of this was due to the disturbance and stress of moving. In all honesty, though, I’ve been exhausted from work, the news, and the seemingly ceaseless march of dishes and laundry. I chose, instead, to escape into fiction – my own and others’.

I am hoping to restore balance in 2018. I want to continue my creative pursuits, but also renew my Druid studies, especially trance, magic, and divination. I need to set aside time for myself, but prioritize so that I’m truly doing activities that feed my soul and elevate my skill set so that I may better serve my family, my grove, my community, and my Kindred. I hope to take better care of my body and exercise more so that I’m not so damn tired all the time. Especially after work… And somehow, as I do that, I need to involve my daughter so that she feels included and sleeps better herself. Then I can have more quiet me-time when I need it.

Ah, the difficulties of motherhood…

It’s difficult not to think of 2017 and the greater challenges our society faces. There are many shadows that will stretch into the new year. Many are too large for us to tackle individually. As I prepare my home and family for another year, I think about what I can do to make a difference. Just as I contemplate spring’s garden, I will plant seeds to make the world a better place in my little corner. Each of us has some power, some influence. As a mother, a wife, a daughter, a sister, a friend, a neighbor, a teacher, a writer, a sewist, a Druid – a person – may I be better, make better, and do better in 2018.

2016 has been a strange one for many of us. It feels disingenuous to type that, though, when I’ve lead a very comfortable life all year. Considering the atrocities faced by people in Syria, for example… Yet 2017, as most years, will also throw some difficulties at us, challenges that can feel insurmountable. Sometimes they will be, and they will crush us mentally, physically, and spiritually. More often, though, I think we can take the challenges and ride them with grace, learning the required lessons and, perhaps, teaching others along the way. 2016 saw us lose many heroes and inspirations. Some of us lost family members or friends to various circumstances. Many of us saw 2016 as a battering ram of defeat, and the tumult reached me on a personal level right at the very end.

I have not done my annual saining and divinatory reading for the New Year. I have not yet looked for insight into what is coming, but I am optimistic. Typical to my Sagittarius sign, I always look on the bright side, even after a painful situation. To me, every hurt is a lesson. I realize I’m showing a lot of privilege in saying that given that I’m not in a war zone or scared to use the bathroom at night… I have gratitude for the blessings I’ve been given and I want to do more to help those in need. It’s a theme that’s continued to show up in my magical work. I’m looking forward to growing as a person in 2017. I’m looking forward to growing in my spirituality and strengthening my grove. My grove! We became a grove in 2016. I must focus on the successes and learn from the failures. I will continue to work through the Nine Virtues to be the best I can be!

“Turn, Turn, Turn” – performed by the Byrds and written by Pete Seeger – came to mind today. Despite its biblical origins, I’ve always felt the song is very Pagan. Life is full of comings and goings, beginnings and endings, as painful as that can be. Perhaps our paths will cross again one day, but for now, all I can think of is the wheel turning… and the work that I must continue.

To everything (turn, turn, turn)There is a season (turn, turn, turn)And a time to every purpose, under heaven

A time to be born, a time to dieA time to plant, a time to reapA time to kill, a time to healA time to laugh, a time to weep

To everything (turn, turn, turn)There is a season (turn, turn, turn)And a time to every purpose, under heaven

A time to build up, a time to break downA time to dance, a time to mournA time to cast away stones, a time to gather stones together

To everything (turn, turn, turn)There is a season (turn, turn, turn)And a time to every purpose, under heaven

A time of love, a time of hateA time of war, a time of peaceA time you may embrace, a time to refrain from embracing

To everything (turn, turn, turn)There is a season (turn, turn, turn)And a time to every purpose, under heaven

A time to gain, a time to loseA time to rend, a time to sewA time for love, a time for hateA time for peace, I swear it’s not too late

Wherever you are, whoever you are, I wish you a very blessed 2017. May we all grow and improve in our paths and in kindness to each other.

Bealtaine is one of my favorite holidays. One reason is simply because, unlike the Spring Equinox, Bealtaine truly brings the warmer weather to Northern NY. Another reason for my fondness is that it’s basically my unofficial Pagan anniversary. I don’t know exactly when I started the conversion process, but my first experiences with two Pagan groups that shaped my practice occurred on two separate Bealtaines. I get really excited about the High Day.

A small coven invited me to celebrate with them this weekend, but that didn’t work out for health reasons. My husband and I contemplated visiting our friends at Muin Mound Grove, but we ultimately decided to stay closer to home and rest. A marathon Bealtaine would have been fun, and would have taken me back to my college days when such a feat would energize rather than exhaust me. Nowadays, I’m a little more subdued, and my daughter keeps me so busy that I’m worn out before we even leave the house! I know many Pagan families with older children who are able to take long trips in order to attend multiple gatherings or festivals – I look forward to doing that again down the road.

So, staying home, I focused on the home. I cleaned it as best as I could, although I admit it’s never entirely clean. There’s always something in progress in my kitchen… I’m very hearth-centered, so I suppose that makes sense! I cleaned my altars, which Bee found fascinating as it gave her a chance to look at everything. We decorated our family altar with symbols of the season. We even made a little May bush with fallen birch and apple branches. We each picked colored ribbons to tie to the branches. It looks very festive!

In addition to making dinner, I made some scones on Bealtaine eve. We offered some to the Good Folk. This morning, I made pancakes as my mother told me my grandmother always made pancakes on the first of May. I love learning about and continuing family traditions, especially when they somehow line up with my High Days! Of course, an offering of said pancakes was made.

We did a little ritual the night before in which we gave offerings to the Kindreds and the Good Folk. We jumped over our altar candle for blessings and purification. Bee thought this was great fun. She wore the flower circlet I crocheted, a tutu, and her new ballet slippers – she’s quite the performer! This morning, it’s raining, so I just collected the rain water for purification and healing work. I made offerings to the only flowers blooming right now – lovely purple ground ivy – and picked a few sprigs to offer to the Good Folk on my doorstep.

Simple and sweet, but certainly inspired by tradition and full of fun and meaning for my family. Now we will look forward to the big protogrove celebration next weekend!

I blessed the baby in the name of the Kindreds – by fire, well, and tree. As I recited the prayer, I circled the child, held by her mother, with a beeswax candle. Then placed some of our blessed water upon the baby with a silver charm handmade by one of our grove artisans, Tan. Next, I placed my oaken wand against the child. Finally, as I recited a translated charm from Carmina Gadelica (page 192 from the CJ Moore edition), I sprinkled the baby three times with “wavelets” from our holy well. This resulted in much squirming from the wee one, and chuckling from the circle of onlookers.

Next I presented the child and mother with a quilt the protogrove put together. Secretly, I reached out to our members near and far, asking for bits of fabric representing the baby, her family, and protection. I received such a variety, and some of the personality of the group came through. I practiced using my growing needlepoint skills, Bee scribbled on some with fabric marker, there were fluffy foxes, whimsical owls, fireflies, spirals, a Goddess symbol, and several runes. It was the biggest thing I’ve ever quilted, and although it challenged me, I’m quite pleased with how it turned out! We passed it around the circle, touching in and putting our love into the blanket. Charged with care and protection, it represents the safety, love, and guidance of the community. Muin Mound presented a similar quilt to my daughter at her saining, and I loved the idea of a communal quilt as a sacred object – a child’s first magical tool. When feeling sad or scared, the child can wrap up in the blanket and feel the support pour in. As my protogrove grows, we develop our own special traditions.

After taking an omen for the child, I moved on to thank the Kindreds. I don’t think I planned the end of the working all that well, but my grovemate seemed moved and very happy with the working. Perhaps I should have some sort of musical signal, or a final exclamation? I also wish I had thought to set aside a special chair ahead of time, as I had to awkwardly find one right before initiating the magical working. As always, I’m growing and learning as I go along! Serving my community is such an honor. There’s definitely a pressure in that I want to do it to the best of my abilities, but it’s extremely fulfilling.